In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Raunak Onkar, research head, said, "We have been of the view for a while that the frontline consumer ideas have been very expensive and they still are expensive irrespective of what the markets have been doing for other areas in the stock market."

Faced with an overwhelming response to their 5th annual general meeting, PPFAS Mutual Fund was forced to cancel the registrations for their Mumbai and Bengaluru events. ET .com Mutual Funds spoke to Neil Parag Parikh, Chairman and CEO, PPFAS Mutual Fund, to find out his plans for the AGM, and his views on the current market.

Ask any fund manager about current valuations, and the standard response is either Indian equities are ‘still relatively cheap’, or ‘think about long-term’. There are very few equity funds today which hold a huge amount of cash, as most investment managers prefer to be fully invested.

There are over 35 Asset Management Companies (AMCs) in India. The typical AMC offers between 5 and 25 open-ended equity mutual funds with varying investment strategies to cater to every kind of investor. PPFAS is not a typical AMC. It offers just one equity mutual fund, Parag Parikh Long Term Equity Fund. My conversation today is with the Head of Research at PPFAS Mutual Fund, Raunak Onkar.

The valuation of consumption stocks not attractive at this point, said Raunak Onkar, PPFAS Mutual Fund. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Onkar said that valuation has to be attractive for us to invest in consumption stocks.

Rajeev Thakkar, CIO at PPFAS Mutual Fund, manages PPFAS Long Term Equity, which recently completed 5 years. He shares his investing perspectives and discusses his fund with Ravi Samalad of Morningstar.

Rajeev Thakkar, CIO, PPFAS MF, says with the election season coming in, concerns over valuations, tightening liquidity and interest rate cycle will be hogging the limelight. Thakkar tells ET Now that he would be hunting for only quality stocks.

Both Indian investors and distributors are waking up to the stability and diversification offered by a fund with a significant exposure to foreign equities, Neil Parikh, CEO, PPFAS Mutual Fund, tells ET Wealth.

What is your expectation from the upcoming Union Budget? People are not too obsessed with the precise fiscal deficit percentage. People are ok with 10 basis points here and there. The biggest thing that would impact is long term capital gains tax.

Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services Ltd. (PPFAS) Mutual Fund, a SEBI registered portfolio management service provider, has drawn up a road map to reduce its expense ratio for the benefit of equity investors, said a top executive.

ET Now: What a dream year this has been! The one year return of the Parag Parikh Long-Term Value Fund Regular Plan has surged over 30%. That has been a staggering return. Are the positions as is or are you looking to juggle something for 2018?

It is no secret that not only the last one year but the last three years have been fantastic for the industry. Government policies of demonetisation and the crackdown on black money have helped funds flow from physical assets, like gold and real estate, to financial assets.

When veteran value-styled investor Parag Parikh and his firm Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services set up a mutual fund company, called PPFAS Asset Management Co. (AMC) Ltd in early 2013, it set out to do something different.

Parag Parikh Long Term Value Fund is among the few funds in India with significant exposure to foreign stocks. Rajeev Thakkar, Chief Investment Officer and Director, PPFAS Mutual Fund, shares his outlook on foreign markets and stocks.

It was a tepid day for the market with the indices closing flat amidst volatility backed by global cues. The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 21.10 points at 33,756.28 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 3.90 points to 10,440.30.

Raunak Onkar of PPFAS Mutual Fund says it is not easy to pick new stocks in this market. "We are sitting on 18 per cent cash, but that is mostly residual cash," says he. Excerpts from an interview with ETNow.

In a chat with ET Now, Raunak Onkar, Head-Research, PPFAS Mutual Fund, says for long-term investors, 5% plunge should not matter and that If the stocks you wanted to buy in your grocery list have not fallen, sit on your cash and wait for them to come down further.

You are an India fund but our viewers by now know that you also have very large global exposure and the stocks which you own are Facebook, Google, Apple, IBM, which means you have very deep understanding of what is happening to the US tech market and what is happening to US stocks.

Around 5 pm on May 3, 2015, Neil Parikh got the fateful call. It was a Sunday and he remembers watching an IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab. The call was from Rajeev Thakkar-chief investment officer of PPFAS Mutual Fund-who was in Omaha, US, with Neil's father Parag Parikh, chairman and CEO of the fund, to attend the annual general meeting of legendary value investor Warren Buffett's firm, Berkshire Hathaway.

Rajeev Thakkar, CIO, Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services Mutual Fund, says while the market momentum is clearly upward, things have been hard on a stock-specific basis and it is difficult to find meaningful ideas. Excerpts from an interview with ETNow.

Reforms may seem disruptive, but sometimes they're necessary. It's too difficult to predict the impact of any reform to the last decimal place, on multiple industries, said Neil Parag Parikh, chairman and CEO, PPFAS Mutual Fund, in an interview with Ravi Ranjan Prasad. Reforms also allow new type of businesses, which can aggregate capacities more efficiently to flourish. Any short-term disruption is perhaps like a speed bump rather than a sinkhole, he remarked. Excerpts:

It will be tough. At least first six months I see it will be tough, the entire story was discretionary spend that has gone for a toss in the last quarter and I do not know when that will recover. Again, increasingly I do not think we have the option of exporting our way to growth so you will have challenges in IT space specifically and maybe even in pharma. I am cautious and not very exuberant going into 2017.

MF Live: Parag Parikh Long Term Value Fund (PPLTV) as named after the founder, is the flagship fund of PPFAS Asset Management Private Limited (PPFAS AMPL). The fund is a diversified equity fund which allocates 35% of its funds to foreign stocks. Please throw more light on how you have strategized the overall investments in the fund?

Parikh, Thakkary says taught him the importance of psychology in valuing equities. An author on behavioural finance, Parikh lectured at various places and was well-read on everything research on behavioural finance, he says.

Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), a sector of low-ticket items, should be the first to recover from the demonetisation-induced slowdown, said Rajeev Thakkar, Chief Investment Officer, PPFAS Mutual Fund.

There are a very few Indian mutual funds that actively track and invest in US equities. For Rajeev Thakkar, CIO, PPFAS Mutual Fund, that’s a strength. This value hunter doesn’t mind going overseas and buying the Google owner Alphabet, while keeping an eye on Maharashtra Scooters and HDFC Bank (top domestic holdings).

We can be up to 35% in global stocks, currently it would be about 29-30% in that range. NASDAQ in terms of absolute values it is at highs sure but it is nowhere near the past NASDAQ bubble that we had seen earlier, says Rajeev Thakkar.

Neil Parikh, Chairman & CEO, PPFAS Asset Management talks about the rationale behind their unique strategy of running just one fund, on why his family’s personal investments are made in this fund, on the focal areas of his business going forward, and on his outlook for Indian equities over the next five years.

Rajeev’s tenure at PPFAS began in 2001. His passion for researching and analysing the fundamentals of companies was evident from the very beginning and very soon he was heading the Research division at PPFAS. His responsibilities soon expanded as he was appointed the Fund Manager for the flagship scheme of the Portfolio Management Service, titled “Cognito” in 2003.

Midcap indices hit their new all-time high this week, but will this rally continue in future? Rajeev Thakkar, chief investment officer and director, PPFAS Mutual Fund feels multiple expansion may not continue forever and in some cases the multiples could contract also. Thakkar tells Feonline that strong inflows in domestic equity markets supported mid-and-small cap space and one needs to be very selective in buying after the recent run-up.

ET Now: Nearly one-fourth of your portfolio is global in nature whether it is an Apple or whether it is a Nestle or for that matter Google. Right now there is a global growth concern. It is haunting American companies as well as European banks. What is your positioning in terms of the global big picture?

Except for the known problem areas like banks, commodity-linked firms and some overleveraged infrastructure names, results have been largely good and the trajectory is looking up. The commodity price fall has been corrected and it is on the upswing. Therefore, pressure on these players may recede, going forward.

In a volatile time for the market, PPFAS Mutual Fund’s only offering, the Long Term Value Fund (multi-cap), has done reasonably well, trouncing the average returns of multi-cap funds by a margin of 2-3 per cent. In an interview with BusinessLine, Neil Parikh, Chairman and CEO, shares his roadmap for the future. Edited excerpts:

While domestic macro indicators are looking up fast, equities can still offer only moderate returns of 10-15 per cent in the coming years, says Rajeev Thakkar, CIO and Director at PPFAS Mutual Fund. In an interview with Amit Mudgill of ETMarkets.com, he said one may expect mega ecommerce IPOs in the coming days, but believes valuing them could be a major challenge. Excerpts:

Nikunj Dalmia: We have seen hell and then we have seen heaven, what is the reality?
Rajeev Thakkar: At our end it is as boring as watching grass grow. Our investments in January when all hell was breaking loose was more or less the same as now, three months later. Nothing much has changed.

What were your key learnings from your dad? Two things come to mind immediately. Do not chase market fancies and current fads. When you chase a market fancy, you pay a fancy price and when that fancy ends, you are left with a fancy loss only.

He has been a part of the Capital Market for over a decade with experience across wealth management, research, Institutional desk, marketing, operations, broking, key client management to name a few. Starting his career as an intern with JM Morgan Stanley in 2003, he has been a part of Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services Limited since July 2004 in various capacities. At PPFAS Mutual Fund, apart from handling key client relationships, he is also entrusted with the fulfillment of strategic responsibilities.

Since inception, PPFAS Mutual Fund has been looked up to in the mutual-fund industry for its no-nonsense approach and skin-in-the-game model, which were the hallmarks of its founder, Parag Parikh. So, how has the fund fared after the veteran investor passed away in May this year? We talked to Rajeev Thakkar, CIO of the fund, to find out.

ET Now: What is your take on Maharashtra Scooters? Rajeev Thakkar: Maharashtra Scooters is a play on Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finserv, and Bajaj Holdings. As a business group, broadly, we like the group. We like the passion of Rajiv Bajaj in terms of the two-wheeler play and execution over there. What Sanjiv Bajaj is doing in the financial services play is good. We have been buying Maharashtra Scooters or we have bought it when the stock price was at almost 20% of the underlying investments. Of course, prices moved up now.

By replacing Parag Parikh as Chairman and CEO of PPFAS Mutual Fund, Neil Parikh has big shoes to fill. Here he assures investors that it is business as usual and speaks on why his equity fund is a winning proposition.

When Parag Parikh died in a car accident in Omaha, US, this month, there was speculation in the market that his firm (Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services) will be up for sale. Some even believed that there will be a run on assets, but that did not happen. In fact, the firm is in good hands and Rajeev Thakker is back to managing his fund.

It was a sad day when Parag Parikh, noted value investor and co-founder of PPFAS Mutual Fund, died in a car crash earlier this month right after attending the annual investor conference of his guru Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

Do you think the momentum in the market will continue going ahead? What could derail it?The day to day events are uncertain to predict.One big positive is government’s focus on economic growth. It is easing the restrictions of doing business in India. The government’s ability to kick start projects and clear key bills will be something to watch out for.

Mr. Parag Parikh's interview by Morning Star, November 28, 2014What type of value investing works in India?The Warren Buffett way of value investing would really work in India where you maintain a margin of safety when you buy. It is difficult for the Benjamin Graham style of cigar butt investing to work because we don't have corporate raiders here who can unlock value. We have courts of law, but no courts of justice. So if someone attempts to do something, it will take years and years before value is unlocked. So, in this sort of a system I think Warren Buffett philosophy would work very well.Read interview →

Mr. Parag Parikh's interview by Forbes India, November 27, 2014As part of the fifth Forbes India CEO Dialogues: The Leadership Agenda, top fund managers and investment gurus discussed whether the markets had run ahead of the economy. Our CEO, Mr. Parag Parikh was one of the participants. Read interview →

With a tortoise for its logo, a single equity scheme and a go-anywhere mandate that allows the fund to invest in foreign stocks, Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services’ (PPFAS) mutual fund has taken the road less travelled. The fund’s CIO Rajeev Thakkar fields questions about the fund’s offbeat ideas.

Mr. Parag Parikh's interview by First Biz, March 4, 2014Parag Parikh, chief executive officer, PPFAS Mutual Fund, is a man with a mission of making his equity fund “the scheme to invest in” in the next five years. His asset management company has just one equity scheme and plans to keep it that way for a while. Firstbiz spoke to him about his money management strategy, the competition (or the lack of it) from other AMCs and lot more. Edited excerpts:Read interview →

Mr. Parag Parikh's interview by The Hindu Business Line, February 2, 2014About Parag Parikh Meeting Parag Parikh, veteran value investor and portfolio manager, was like running into Tamil movie-star Rajnikanth. If Rajnikanth intoned ‘En vazhi thani vazhi’ (my way is a very different way) in Padayappa, Parikh has actually practised it in his career. Read interview →

Mr. Parag Parikh's interview by The Manual of Ideas, June 7, 2013We recently had the pleasure of interviewing value investment manager Parag Parikh of Mumbai, India-based PPFAS Asset Management recently. Born in 1954 in Mumbai, Parag obtained a Master’s degree from the University of Bombay and went on to buy a membership on the Bombay Stock Exchange in 1983. His firm, Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services (PPFAS), is a research-driven value investment organization that embraces the principles of value investing.Read interview →

Mr. Parag Parikh's interview by Value Research, January 8, 2013Why do you want to get into asset management business?For us, mutual fund is not a business, it is a money management profession. We will do things which benefit the clients. Currently, we notice the mad fight for assets under management (AUM) by AMCs, because the profession has become a business. Read interview →

Mr. Parag Parikh's interview by Live Mint, January 3, 2013In an industry worth ₹ 8.08 trillion with 43 asset management companies (AMCs), PPFAS Asset Management Co. Ltd doesn’t want to be just another AMC. Some of the things it is doing to be different include having a mandate to launch a single equity scheme that will invest in Indian as well as foreign securities, and nudging employees to invest in the scheme. In conversation with Parag Parikh, chief executive officer, PPFAS:Read interview →